WebSitePulse 2011 Tax Performance and Uptime Report

WebSitePulse is monitoring thirteen of the most popular tax websites for the 2011 Tax season. The measurement results indicate the performance levels and the availability of the websites related to the increased Internet traffic and online e-filing services during the selected period.
Continuous web monitoring for all thirteen websites covers the period between April 05 and April 18, 2011. The reports and the charts are updated daily, displaying the results from the previous day and for the entire monitoring period to the current date. You can read more about the methodology we use to prepare this report.

Daily Report for April 18, 2011

See report for:

WebSitePulse reports the following results from web performance measurement of the leading US Tax Websites:

The daily Average Response time from all monitored websites was 11.219 sec.

The Average Response time as measured from the US East Coast (Washington, DC) was:

10.088 sec.

The Average Response time as measured from the US West Coast (San Francisco, CA) was:

13.829 sec.

The Average Response time as measured from US Central (Chicago, IL) was:

9.740 sec.

The Best Response time measured from US East Coast:

4.824 sec.

The Best Response time measured from US West Coast:

3.327 sec.

The Best Response time measured from US Central:

1.159 sec.

The typical shopping transaction took the least time for etax.com visitors - 4.742 sec., while the visitors of efile.com had to be the most patient, as the shopping transaction there took in average of 31.288 sec.Four of the monitored websites delivered above-the-average response times for their transactions, while nine of them demonstrated below-the-average daily performance.

The daily average uptime for the entire Group was 99.99%.

The Average Uptime as measured from the US East Coast (Washigton, DC) was:

99.97%

The Average Uptime as measured from the US West Coast (San Francisco, CA) was:

100.00%

The Average Uptime as measured from US Central (Chicago, IL) was:

100.00%

Twelve websites were available with no interruptions - 100%.Twelve websites' availability was above the average, while one site dragged the average down with below-the-average availability.

Report Highlights

No events of particular importance or possible negative impact on the online visitors' interaction with the Websites included into the 2011 Tax Websites report were detected during the reported period, and according to WebSitePulse, the Group delivered the expected levels of End-User experience and Customer satisfaction.

Please, scroll down for Detailed Reports and Charts provided by WebSitePulse:

Daily Response Times

Legend:

completetax

efile

esmarttax

expresstaxrefund

hrblock

olt

taxact

taxbrain

turbotax

taxslayer

etax

e-file-online

1040

Average Response Times for April 18, 2011

#

Target

San Francisco

Chicago

Washington

Avg. resp. time

1

etax.com

8.243

1.159

4.824

4.742

2

e-file-online.com

5.816

4.872

5.888

5.525

3

expresstaxrefund.com

9.725

4.275

6.383

6.794

4

taxact.com

7.805

8.169

5.572

7.182

5

hrblock.com

6.809

7.433

7.539

7.260

6

olt.com

9.922

4.851

7.353

7.375

7

esmarttax.com

14.879

7.503

5.755

9.379

8

taxbrain.com

3.327

11.190

14.764

9.760

9

completetax.com

12.412

9.907

9.390

10.570

10

1040.com

18.181

9.895

7.901

11.992

11

turbotax.com

7.139

15.803

17.301

13.414

12

taxslayer.com

31.381

12.295

18.032

20.569

13

efile.com

44.144

29.273

20.448

31.288

Average Response Times April 05, 2011 - April 18, 2011

#

Target

San Francisco

Chicago

Washington

Avg. resp. time

1

etax.com

8.251

1.135

4.873

4.753

2

e-file-online.com

5.511

4.623

5.800

5.311

3

taxact.com

7.159

4.972

5.923

6.018

4

expresstaxrefund.com

9.748

4.189

6.475

6.804

5

hrblock.com

6.825

7.369

7.562

7.252

6

olt.com

10.021

6.139

8.422

8.194

7

completetax.com

11.533

8.054

7.872

9.153

8

esmarttax.com

14.724

7.549

5.623

9.298

9

taxbrain.com

3.468

11.252

14.009

9.576

10

1040.com

18.026

9.809

7.898

11.911

11

turbotax.com

7.291

15.831

24.819

15.980

12

taxslayer.com

31.728

15.062

16.719

21.170

13

efile.com

36.493

22.100

15.858

24.817

Hourly Average Response TimesSelect individual website to display:

Legend:

individual site response times

monitored group average response times

Average response times by hour for April 18, 2011

Target

Hours

00

01

02

03

04

05

06

07

08

09

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

1040

11.72

11.81

11.79

-

-

-

12.25

12.10

12.17

12.14

11.61

11.83

11.83

11.85

11.57

11.82

11.85

11.89

11.68

11.80

13.11

11.92

13.05

12.07

completetax

9.73

9.02

9.97

-

-

-

10.06

9.39

9.58

9.48

10.13

11.25

10.29

10.26

21.24

9.92

10.55

9.59

10.29

10.55

9.90

10.80

10.29

9.69

e-file-online

5.41

4.96

5.05

-

-

-

5.87

6.38

5.97

5.50

5.66

5.67

5.33

6.00

6.10

5.40

5.28

5.04

5.12

5.44

5.40

5.44

5.81

5.20

efile

23.65

20.99

20.05

-

-

-

20.09

19.04

24.76

26.31

36.78

36.81

36.24

38.34

42.86

37.39

38.24

42.47

35.51

33.77

32.15

30.95

31.71

28.94

esmarttax

9.09

8.94

8.91

-

-

-

9.60

9.44

9.54

9.86

9.27

9.29

9.64

9.81

9.61

9.17

9.46

9.58

8.91

9.12

9.27

9.17

10.14

9.14

etax

4.47

4.55

4.44

-

-

-

5.11

5.01

5.05

5.17

4.80

4.71

4.77

4.68

4.61

4.56

4.71

4.55

4.66

4.63

4.75

4.76

4.79

4.81

expresstaxrefund

6.25

6.50

6.41

-

-

-

7.54

7.28

6.96

7.20

6.81

6.78

6.86

6.96

6.58

6.62

6.67

6.53

6.71

6.37

6.89

6.76

6.78

7.22

hrblock

7.09

7.21

7.08

-

-

-

7.28

7.16

7.18

7.35

7.39

7.23

7.10

7.41

7.21

7.18

7.42

7.14

7.13

7.41

7.53

7.26

7.25

7.45

olt

7.18

7.17

7.12

-

-

-

7.63

7.34

7.48

7.48

7.22

7.29

7.34

7.47

7.21

7.40

7.33

7.40

7.27

7.21

7.50

7.64

7.69

7.54

taxact

5.19

5.47

4.62

-

-

-

5.89

5.48

5.95

6.13

5.54

5.38

5.63

25.04

13.59

5.47

5.95

6.26

5.72

5.85

5.73

6.69

9.37

5.86

taxbrain

11.78

9.69

9.44

-

-

-

9.97

9.56

9.55

9.66

10.13

9.58

10.31

9.72

9.68

9.83

9.56

9.49

9.37

9.37

9.47

9.58

9.49

9.73

taxslayer

21.04

20.33

20.20

-

-

-

21.23

19.84

21.64

19.87

19.64

20.01

20.21

20.66

20.32

20.34

20.27

20.51

20.61

20.30

20.87

21.51

20.53

22.03

turbotax

12.79

13.27

13.35

-

-

-

13.40

13.28

13.44

13.59

13.54

13.37

13.79

13.53

13.42

13.36

13.45

13.58

13.42

13.51

13.38

13.56

13.46

13.19

Average response times by hour April 05, 2011 - April 18, 2011

Target

Hours

00

01

02

03

04

05

06

07

08

09

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

1040

11.81

11.84

11.79

-

-

-

12.36

11.90

12.38

12.99

11.76

11.82

11.79

11.82

11.72

11.79

11.91

11.85

11.72

11.69

11.90

11.76

11.77

11.74

completetax

8.63

8.55

9.70

-

-

-

8.70

8.75

8.86

8.73

9.39

10.46

9.41

9.78

10.18

9.12

9.61

9.00

8.82

8.67

8.77

9.01

9.36

8.71

e-file-online

5.18

5.09

5.16

-

-

-

5.55

5.35

5.24

5.30

5.45

5.69

5.61

5.48

5.59

5.47

5.42

5.13

5.13

5.08

5.01

5.06

5.39

5.15

efile

21.16

19.50

18.98

-

-

-

18.21

18.58

21.59

24.71

27.00

28.56

26.05

27.82

28.68

28.73

28.86

28.79

27.19

25.60

25.61

26.10

25.55

23.89

esmarttax

9.23

9.28

8.98

-

-

-

9.32

9.16

9.31

9.26

9.31

10.01

9.52

9.48

9.25

9.28

9.36

9.34

9.01

9.21

9.26

9.18

9.43

9.11

etax

4.64

4.62

4.60

-

-

-

5.10

4.80

4.81

4.90

4.82

4.92

4.79

4.72

4.72

4.67

4.75

4.70

4.64

4.72

4.72

4.69

4.74

4.73

expresstaxrefund

6.69

6.70

6.75

-

-

-

7.45

7.20

6.73

6.93

6.85

6.88

6.83

6.75

6.75

6.73

6.78

6.63

6.74

6.80

6.68

6.63

6.65

6.73

hrblock

7.22

7.19

7.05

-

7.44

-

7.24

7.24

7.32

7.30

7.34

7.32

7.24

7.29

7.25

7.29

7.29

7.21

7.19

7.20

7.25

7.32

7.26

7.30

olt

7.34

14.10

11.45

-

10.11

-

7.85

7.38

7.52

7.93

7.43

7.83

9.72

7.55

7.56

7.57

7.63

7.55

7.54

7.59

7.74

7.65

7.58

7.54

taxact

5.58

5.66

5.53

-

2.92

-

6.32

5.72

5.69

5.81

5.76

6.25

5.74

7.24

6.39

6.05

6.10

5.95

5.86

6.02

5.92

6.10

6.73

6.01

taxbrain

9.62

9.51

9.51

-

-

-

10.27

9.60

9.63

9.69

9.49

9.64

9.53

9.44

9.55

9.52

9.51

9.41

9.52

9.60

9.47

9.68

9.49

9.41

taxslayer

20.84

20.73

21.41

-

-

-

20.89

20.57

20.84

20.91

20.93

21.30

21.21

21.33

21.16

21.30

21.23

21.17

20.96

21.01

21.51

22.32

21.80

21.14

turbotax

16.97

16.28

16.35

-

-

-

15.56

16.37

16.97

15.84

16.32

14.80

17.40

16.06

14.76

15.14

14.32

16.45

15.37

16.74

15.65

16.10

15.34

16.76

Uptime

Uptime April 18, 2011

#

Target

San Francisco

Chicago

Washington

Avg. uptime

1

taxslayer.com

100.000%

100.000%

100.000%

100.000%

2

turbotax.com

100.000%

100.000%

100.000%

100.000%

3

etax.com

100.000%

100.000%

100.000%

100.000%

4

e-file-online.com

100.000%

100.000%

100.000%

100.000%

5

1040.com

100.000%

100.000%

100.000%

100.000%

6

taxbrain.com

100.000%

100.000%

100.000%

100.000%

7

taxact.com

100.000%

100.000%

100.000%

100.000%

8

esmarttax.com

100.000%

100.000%

100.000%

100.000%

9

expresstaxrefund.com

100.000%

100.000%

100.000%

100.000%

10

hrblock.com

100.000%

100.000%

100.000%

100.000%

11

completetax.com

100.000%

100.000%

100.000%

100.000%

12

olt.com

100.000%

100.000%

100.000%

100.000%

13

efile.com

100.000%

100.000%

99.640%

99.880%

Uptime April 05, 2011 - April 18, 2011

#

Target

San Francisco

Chicago

Washington

Avg. uptime

1

completetax.com

100.000%

100.000%

100.000%

100.000%

2

taxact.com

100.000%

100.000%

100.000%

100.000%

3

expresstaxrefund.com

100.000%

100.000%

100.000%

100.000%

4

etax.com

100.000%

100.000%

100.000%

100.000%

5

turbotax.com

100.000%

100.000%

100.000%

100.000%

6

esmarttax.com

100.000%

100.000%

100.000%

100.000%

7

taxbrain.com

100.000%

100.000%

100.000%

100.000%

8

1040.com

100.000%

100.000%

99.986%

99.995%

9

e-file-online.com

100.000%

99.986%

100.000%

99.995%

10

taxslayer.com

99.880%

99.908%

99.872%

99.887%

11

efile.com

99.554%

99.856%

99.901%

99.770%

12

olt.com

99.129%

99.613%

99.617%

99.453%

13

hrblock.com

98.888%

98.884%

99.218%

98.996%

Methodology:
The 2011 Tax Reports reflect a complete web transaction, representative for the End Users' interactions with a website. The reporting period covers the dates between April 05 and April 18, 2011. Performance and availability measurements are made for a typical multi-step web transaction at 15 minute monitoring interval, every day between the hours of 6AM and 3AM EST. Between 3AM and 6AM is the time when a scheduled maintenance most likely will be performed by IT staff and that is why we automatically suspend the monitoring process during this time every day. The WebSitePulse application monitoring service is used to collect data and to create the reports.
The steps in each transaction are comparable for all websites, and reflect the real online user and tax e-filer experience. The simultaneous monitoring is performed from 3 US-based locations of the WebSitePulse monitoring network: San Francisco, CA, Chicago, IL, and Washington, DC. In case of a detected malfunction or unavailability, the system performs automated error verification from 3 independent resources and only after the above procedure is performed and has returned consistent results, the detected error is confirmed, recorded, and included in the daily performance reports. In these cases, an advanced WebSitePulse exclusive feature comes into play - Forced Monitoring -, which automatically switches to a 3 minute monitoring interval for increased accuracy.

About WebSitePulse:
WebSitePulse is a leading provider of global, independent, and objective availability and performance monitoring of web sites, servers, network components, web applications, e-business- and email round-trip transactions.

Contact:
For more information about this report please contact:
George T., CTO
phone: 1-407-380-1600
email:

Reproduction:
WebSitePulse launched the Performance and Uptime Reports program to keep the general public and the Internet community informed about the performance of specific websites and the challenges their webmasters, owners and operators are facing on a daily basis, especially when the web traffic intensifies due to some special events through the year. Some of the most popular web destinations, related to each particular event, are selected for the purpose of the Reports, and data from their performance measurements is made available on the WebSitePulse public website.

With the intention to broadly disseminate this information for the benefit of the Internet community, we encourage the use of this information without prior approval and under the following Terms and Conditions:

WebSitePulse should be referred as the "Source" of the information;

WebSitePulse should be acknowledged as the owner of the copyrights of the information in the Reports;

The texts of the Reports could be changed or altered to better suit the needs and the style of the publisher without prior notice to WebSitePulse. However, the integrity and the meaning of the information should be preserved;

The Data from the performance measurements cannot be changed or manipulated and should be used "as is".